Jno; C. Townes
Published: 2015-06-02
Total Pages: 727
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Excerpt from Studies in American Elementary Law For a number of years I have been considering the matter of Elementary Law, trying to solve three problems concerning it: First. Whether there is any such thing. Second. If so, what is it? Third. If there is, and it can be identified, how can it be taught? On the first point, I am thoroughly convinced. I no longer doubt that there is matter which may properly be called Elementary Law, and that it is not an ideality only, but is of the most intense interest and of the highest practical value. Indeed, so interesting and far-reaching is it, that, in my judgment, nothing else in the study or practice of the law is to be compared to it. On the second point, I have changed my mind materially since I began to give the matter thoughtful consideration. On this question there are three lines of thought. The first does not regard Elementary Law as a subject or matter distinct in itself, but simply as a method of presenting to the student the ordinary rules of law in nontechnical language, a process of simplifying each rule by changing the terms in which it is usually expressed, and thus, without systematizing or co-ordinating the body of rules in any way, to make each more easy of apprehension by the student. An adequate book prepared on this conception would comprise a complete enumeration of all the authoritative rules of conduct prescribed in the government whose laws it sought to represent, stated simply, but arbitrarily, without showing any relations between them, or any of the reasons on which they are based. The second line of thought gives more recognition to the idea of the separateness of Elementary Law, yet does not admit this fully; and it also deals with it more as a method of presenting the established rules of law than as a distinct substantive matter. The method employed is a much more thoughtful and helpful one than that in the first school. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
